New energy for school district's Young Parents Program

Joe Callahan @JoeOcalaNews

Wednesday

Dec 27, 2017 at 5:21 PMDec 27, 2017 at 5:21 PM

Moving from aging portables into 8,800-square-foot facility at MTI

The School District hopes that moving its three-decades-old Young Parents Program from aging portables into a new 8,800-square-foot facility will help ensure that the program evolves beyond a child care center and better helps young mothers graduate from high school.

Officials say that since 2013, only 2.2 percent of the 91 mothers who have attended the program actually graduated high school and received a diploma.

School districts are required by state law to provide the Young Parents Program in hopes of helping teens get an education. Superintendent Heidi Maier’s administrative team decided that by moving the program to the Marion Technical Institute campus that these teen mothers will have more opportunities for success.

Officials say the $600,000 renovation of a building on the MTI campus may open many doors for the 30 teen mothers and dozens of other students interested in going into the early childhood education field.

There will be at least 30 children, ages two weeks to 5, at the new facility at any given time. MTI’s early childhood education students will learn by working with these small children to get their day care certifications.

“It is a win for students, a win for the babies and a win for the mothers,”said Dama Abshier, a district administrator who oversees alternative programs.

Also, by moving the program to MTI, which offers nine different programs from culinary to construction, the teen mothers will have more opportunities not only to graduate, but with a certification in a field so they can get job right out of high school.

The district’s new Young Parents Program daycare facility will be state accredited and licensed. The facility will offer voluntary pre-kindergarten services and one day will be open, when space is available, to the children of district employees. The district will also get state funding for those small children being cared for in the program.

District officials are hoping that by retooling the program that they can attract more mothers to the program after years of decline. Until this year, enrollment had dropped from 27 in 2013-14 to 19 in 2016-17. When news came that the district would be building a new facility, and public awareness increased, enrollment swelled to 30.

The district has also been working to improve dismal attendance. Between the 2013-14 and 2016-17 school years, only two-thirds of the students attended each day. So far this year, attendance is nearly 80 percent. Though not stellar, it is a big improvement. Officials said there are many reasons for the poor attendance, with the lack of transportation to the current site being one of the biggest roadblocks.

Mark Vianello, executive director of vocational programs, told the School Board recently that the program will give much more instruction to the young mothers, as well as all students wanting to get a child care license for work after graduation. The district will now offer transportation to and from school to the young mothers.

The Early Childhood Program will help students obtain their Florida Childhood Professional Certificate and/or a Child Development Associate certification. The students will get hands-on experience at the licensed childcare facility.

Roseann Fricks, executive director of the Early Learning Coalition of Marion County, told the board recently that the Early Childhood Program is needed. Data shows that there are currently 652 certified child daycare workers in Marion County. The need will rise in 10 years to nearly 1,000. Fricks said the program is needed so students “can take the next step right into the workforce” after graduating high school.

Maier’s plan has been overshadowed after three School Board members scolded the district administration weeks ago about “unexpected” construction costs. Though the renovation was approved by the board in its five-year work plan in September, board members were caught off-guard at the speed of the construction and the rising costs. Maier has pledged to better inform the board when one of the approved projects on the list is set to begin construction.

Smokey West, a former student of the Young Parent Program and now the teacher, also told the board recently that without the program she would not soon be obtaining her doctorate’s degree.

Joe Callahan can be reached at 867-4113 or at joe.callahan@starbanner.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoeOcalaNews.

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